Best Of
Re: Buddhist Epistemology
@person said:
When I was early in my practice I more readily accepted many of the metaphysical claims made in Buddhism. Then I encountered some teachings on the hells that described how far below the surface of the Earth each level was. At some point they got deep enough that it would put them all the way through the other side of the planet out into space. That sort of unlocked a sense that personal experience wasn't always valid.I've been doing some reading on Buddhist epistemology, the study of knowledge, how we know what we know and what counts as valid or not. Its a deep and complex subject but I think I can at least get to something practical. Scientific epistemology relies on empiricism and third party verification. Buddhism also looks to reason but it also allows for personal perception and experience, something like "come and see". We can't really verify through someone else if practicing the path leads to greater happiness and freedom, it has to come from within. But personal observation isn't perfect, so there has to be some limit.
So, where does that leave me? Both the Kalama and Canki suttas tell us things about how the Buddha thought about distinguishing between how a belief is held and whether it is true. I can have conviction about something false and uncertainty about something true. We are instructed not to hold something as true out of reason, tradition, scripture, or teacher authority alone. We need to test it out for ourselves like a goldsmith would test gold. But obviously experiencing something personally isn't sufficient in itself. So how to think about what come and see really means, what can it show us and what are its limits?
I think in most Buddhist traditions there is a similar concept of "Don't Know Mind". As much as it feels right to hold onto some concepts as immutable truths, there is always room for more information and if we think we know for sure, we close ourselves off to new perspectives. Attachment to our views is to be avoided.
The Heart Sutra of the Mahayana teachings hints at this when the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is updating Shariputra's understanding, basically replacing the Abhidharma with the teachings of Prajnaparamita. The only time the Buddha taught the Abhidharma was when he is said to have gone to the realm of the 33 Devas to teach and free Mahamaya (who was reborn there as a deva) for three months. He returned every day to collect alms and summarize to Shariputra.
"Don't Know Mind" also hints at a sort of primordial awareness before thought but that's another thread.
Re: Buddhist Economics
When I was somewhere between 15 and 18, I had a strong idea/vision that I would start from 1% and every year give 1% more to charitable causes. That never happened. Later, I thought the idea was nuts/idealistic, especially after many years/increments. But thinking about it now, if one is earning decently and investing aggressively, it actually sounds doable, at least in theory.
Over the years, I gave decent contributions to charity, but I don't think I approached the 10% I finally settled I'd aim for. @Jeroen says it's also a Dutch thing, but I got the idea from the Muslims.
I recycle.
I founded a scholarship to send one pupil from my highschool to an international summer camp. We're currently in our fifth year, have 5 donors, and the reports by the pupils are always of the 'one of the best experiences of my life' variety. Great success!
I did some commited plogging for a while, the last few months I've been just putting away small quantities of random trash.
I advocate for a strong social safety net, redistribution to keep inequality low to moderate, but also a market economy, which taken together to my mind have been shown to be the best actually-implemented solution. Think Scandinavia.
I'm still waiting for an offer, but since I got promoted at work, I expect I'll be financially alright and plan to finally be giving 10% to charitable causes systematically. If that still turns out to be too much for me, I'll at least settle for the 4.2% I was doing for a while. 42, get it? 😉
marcitko
Re: Buddhist Economics
@QuangKsanti said:
But where would Buddhist economics be without the first Paramita, Dana? I find less and less people are giving to the monastics that sustain the practice these days. Every pay I give what I can to my teacher and a Temple a few cities over. Then we also give to SOS which pairs parentless children with childless women in certain countries around the globe. Ours goes to a boy (now a preteen) within a group of I think eight. It pays to really research the organization and SOS is a very good and on-the-level charity. I don't make much money myself but it is a part of the practice.
I think it is a very good thing to give part of what one earns to a good cause. Here in the Netherlands it used to be traditional to give 10% to the churches, there used to be a collection bag that would get passed around, and the attendants ears would be carefully tuned to hearing the drop of coins, and there would be stern looks if you didn’t give.
I myself don’t actually have any earnings, I don’t have a Buddhist teacher, and there isn’t a Temple for quite a ways around. So I give some to Wikipedia instead, which I think is one of the few really worthy institutions on the web.
Jeroen
Re: The importance of mudra in zazen
The reason I was given for the cosmic mudra is attention based. The teacher can see whether the bowl shape of the hands start to crumble as the student dozes off and the thumbs together are for the student to gauge their attentiveness. The thumbs are supposed to just barely touch. If they press too hard, we can adjust them accordingly. I was shown that we should be able to have a thin piece of rice paper between them with no real friction and the teacher could be able to snatch the paper with ease.
Re: Bodhisattvas?
Having taken the Bodhisattva Vows, I'd say they are important to me.
The Four Great Vows gatha (not the same as the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts)
Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way in unattainable, I vow to attain it.
In truth, when all beings have awakened, not a single being has woken.
Re: Using thoughts to direct the mind
I use this technique every now and then. I do find it useful, however the title had me wondering if it's the other way around. That is just my bias though as usually during silent illumination meditation, if I catch myself entertaining any thought at all, I return to the breath.
Re: Bodhisattvas?
I am preparing to undertake Jukai (precept takings under the Zen tradition) and have found the Bodhissatva ideal a bit conflictive because of my Theravada and Vajrayana past. In both teachings I was warned about this because a wrong doing could cause endless rebirths and, some of them, will not be as lucky as my current one.
Right now, beyond those metaphysical questions, I am concentrating on the present moment and vow to help those I can, including myself. Like Marcitko mentions, help momma with the dishes, clean yo' shit up, don't be a jerk, keep training! Stay hard!
Kotishka
Re: Buddhist Economics
These are all great answers. I do recycle my plastic as I believe it actually does get recycled here but I also make sure not to get single use stuff. For example, we get stainless steel straws and refuse the plastic ones that come with drinks out.
I also don't eat meat or animal products and limit my time on social media. The only real social site I use is likely the worst (Facebook) but I have a lot of family, friends and fellow Buddhists on there.
I also try to buy that which lasts when it comes to clothing and tech.
But where would Buddhist economics be without the first Paramita, Dana? I find less and less people are giving to the monastics that sustain the practice these days. Every pay I give what I can to my teacher and a Temple a few cities over. Then we also give to SOS which pairs parentless children with childless women in certain countries around the globe. Ours goes to a boy (now a preteen) within a group of I think eight. It pays to really research the organization and SOS is a very good and on-the-level charity. I don't make much money myself but it is a part of the practice.
Re: The worth of things…
There is a Netflix series, I believe, called 'Hoarders'. It actually makes for tragic and horrific viewing. I then found this information:
"Hoarding is a neuropsychiatric disorder.
It is usually triggered by an emotional incident, episode or experience, and is not laziness, unwillingness to cooperate, or indifference to cleanliness.
In 2013, The (American) Psychiatric Association re-classified Hoarding as a distinct disorder, separate from OCD.
The centres of the brain in the frontal lobe areas, which were much less stimulated in hoarders than in other healthy volunteers or those with OCD, were the areas responsible for focused attention, motivation, choosing between multiple options and regulation of emotion. 50% of the factors are hereditary, so hoarding often runs in families.. "
Hoarding is an attachment primarily to things that are of great sentimental value, due to their relevance or connection to a person or a time period of significance. Other stuff then accumulates to such an extent, that the original desire to 'keep hold' of something, is utterly and completely obliterated, and buried under tons of completely useless 'stuff'. My daughter's partner Mark, had to clear his mother's house, to sell it. Just clearing away the extraneous stuff, took months (his mother is still alive) and the huge storage locker (think cargo shipping container) he hired, to store what she insisted on keeping, is ⅔ full. My daughter finally managed to gently convince her to dispose of 47, variously-sized glass jars, she had stored away, for jam making. She hasn't made jam in over 15 years. Their jars were all stored in the fridge. That is hoarding. I am determined to never succumb to such an affliction!
federica
Re: The worth of things…
Yes, for my mother and me we have realised we had everything we actually needed in our own home, and in going through the boxes with the things we kept from my father it’s a question of what we would like to keep, and what we can find room for. The same also with the boxes of my old household goods from many years ago.
Going back over our memories, my mother and I recalled a number of instances where my father had asked us for help with organising his home. It became clear only when we took stock of the apartment after his death that every piece of storage space was filled to the rafters with ‘things’. Clothes, linnen, fancy crockery, papers, foto’s, he had kept everything. And it was also clear that this had become a burden to him, that living in an apartment so full of stuff was choking him — there was no room to breathe.
This is what led us to the realisation that although we had a larger home, it was also full of things we didn’t need, didn’t use and didn’t appreciate. There are many things here we are just holding onto because they were of use in the past — papers, old computers, old coats and shoes. I said to my mother, it can all go.
Jeroen